HP z420

[Rimovanax]

Hey guy,

I did some research on my old workstation & still i can't find if it the mobo is a gen 1 or 2. Mobo number: HP Z420 Workstation Motherboard 708615-001 708615-601 W8 PRO 618263-002. It is because I have the latest BIOS ( 3.95 I think ). not only because I am looking to upgrade the CPU. it is because I placed a AMD RX 470 with a wrong VBIOS in it & the desktop booted normally. After putting in the main descrete card AMD Rx 570 the boot process i really long, from 30 sec to almost 2 minutes. I have flashed the latest BIOS I could find, did a bios reset & checked if any hardware was detective ( none of the where ). does someone has any answers for both questions.

[Brian1965]

Hi Rimovanax,

A HP Z420 Workstation with Boot Block Date 12/28/2011 is a V1 motherboard, and only supports the v1 Xeon CPU's. The Boot Block Date is listed in the BIOS.

Please download the HP Z420 Maintenance and Service Guide for additional information.

Regarding your longer boot time question;

1. Is this time for any BIOS text or logo to appear on the screen?

2. What OS are you using?

3. Apart from the RX 570 card you mentioned, do you have any other PCI cards installed?

If you have reset the BIOS, you will need to adjust / optimize the BIOS settings to suit your hardware configuration. e.g. disabling Option ROM downloads, etc. Personaly, I disable any PCI slots, internal USB, 1394 and serial ports, etc. or features I don't need.This will reduce the boot time and will also improve your computers performance after booting up.

All the information you need is in the maintenance and service manual - there is a section detailing the BIOS settings in it.

[Rimovanax]

Hi Brian,

The boot block date is: 03-06-2013. The mobo should be a version 2, so I can safely swap out for an Xeon E5 ××××  V2.

OS Specs: W10 Pro, Build: 18363.836, 

Previous Blue-green codes,  DRIVER VERIFIER DMA VIOLATION

DRIVER POWERSTATE FAILURE.

By far no problems with the device configuration listed bellow.

BIOS Version 3.96 Latest, BIOS Reset at 12.10AM. I did reset the BIOS in the setup also with the button on the mobo, I still get the same booting problem with my device.

Specs: HP Z420, Xeon E5 1620, 32GB UDDR3 1600Mhz, 250GB Samsung evo 850, 240GB intel 530  256 Samsung MZL×××××NVME SSD, 256GB Toshiba THNSN5256GPUK, 3TB Seagate Barracuda, 1TB WD blue, 500GB seagate SAS Dell oem( ? ), Intel NGW 8620 NIC, Saphire AMD RX 470 4GB platinum 127W,

MSI AMD RX 570 4GB 178W, Stock PSU.

[Brian1965]

Yes, based on your Boot Block Date you do have the v2 motherboard, so any CPU listed in the most recent HP Z420 QuickSpecs will work. It also means that your system supports 1866MHz DIMMS, (with a suitable v2 processor).

Am I reading your last post correctly? Do you have both the RX470 and RX570 cards installed in your Z420 at the same time?

[Rimovanax]

Hi,

Yes I have Both the RX 470 & the RX 570 in the HP z420 workstation. They got some history, Before those two i had an MSI R9 280X & RX 470 the boot process was still normal. With the RX 470/570 Config, the first 3 weeks it booted up really fast Wayne give or take 20 seconds. Now idk what I am doing wrong but the boot process is still rather long. Yesterday I spend the evening swapping out CPU's ( al V1's ) & everything seems to be as slow ass before.

[Brian1965]

Are you sure you had a R9 280X (250W) and RX 470 (120W) running in your Z420 at the same time = 370W!! This sounds extremely unlikely - unless you have installed an non-standard Z420 PSU. Where/how did you supply auxilliary PCI power for these GPU's? e.g. the R9 requires 2 and the RX 470 requires 1 additional auxiliary power cable to run. The Z420 PSU has either; 1off PCI auxiliary power cable, or 2off PCI auxiliary power cables maximum, depending on the PSU revision. Please see the recommendations below from the Z420 QuickSpecs;

Check the following settings in your BIOS, (screen shots are from HP Performance Advisor);-

Disable the Serial Port if you're not using it . . .

You can also disable AMT if you're not using it, (needs to be enabled if you're overclocking like me) . . .

Disabling yet even more ROM downloads . . .  WARNING ! - DON'T change your current settings for the PXE Option ROMS, Mass Storage Option ROMS and Video Option ROM settings.

Finally, it's worth checking that the PCI slots are optimized . . .

Your definitely pushing your Z420 to the limit on the GPU power rails, e.g. RX 570 (178W) + RX 470 (127W) = 305W

Have you tried running both the 470 and 570 individually in your system, and did it make any difference to your boot time?

[Rimovanax]

Yes I am100% sure it was an R9 ( 280X MSI twin frozer ). During boot with the R9 standalone the boot duration time was very short & pleasant. Since the R9 required a 6 pin & 8 pin PCIE connector i added the 8 pins to make it work with the RX 470. The boot times where indeed pleasant. Until I swapped the R9 for the RX 570 & things started to look like **bleep**. Boot times where awful long  indeed I tried the cards individually from each other it didn't matter, the boot times where between 1 & 2 minutes. Even with another E5 1620 V0, the boot times where still long

the only thing I have changed is the CPU, the mobo is indeed a V2. I swapped for an Xeon E5 4610 V2. The boot times are a bit faster, around 45 sec to a minut. I did a BIOS reset & everything is stil the same.  The psu is a the stock HP 600W PSU. The unused slots where optimized/disabled.

Or could it be a motherboard problem?

[Brian1965]

I'm surprised your computer didn't catch fire! Considering your PSU is only really designed to run at 270W continuously from the G1/G2 power rails. I know you can push them a bit higher, (at our own peril), and unfortunately, you may be witnessing the consequences of pushing things a little to hot for too long. Apart from checking evrything again in the BIOS, e.g. boot order, etc., I'm not sure what else to try.

Even stranger, are you sure you booted a Xeon E5 4610 V2 in your Z420? I don't see that in any of the Z420 quickspecs.

[Rimovanax]

tnkx for the warning bout the cards,  I let them use les power than before. I gues I have to deal with the changed boot time. I am 100% sure that the workstation runs the Xeon E5 4610 V2

 

[Brian1965]

Thanks for the image of the BIOS screen, it clearly shows the CPU listed. I'm sure this will be a surprise to many other forum users and Z420 owners.